Is Loving Yourself Too Much Even a Thing?

 

Let us not become conceited,
provoking and envying each other.

Galatians 5:26 (NIV)

It starts innocently enough.

We are all encouraged to have a positive self-image, right? I mean, you can't "love your neighbor as you love yourself" if you don't first love yourself.

The problem is that some of us get to loving ourselves a bit much, as if we could do no wrong.

Then we want to make sure other people recognize how lovable we are, prompting them to appreciate our personal greatness. (A synonym for prompting is provoking.)

And what happens as we encounter people who have no need to compare or contrast themselves to others to feel good about themselves? We wish we could be like them, and that's called envy.

Most people quote the tenth commandment as "Thou shalt not covet." What most people don't do is translate that churchy word covet into something that normal people understand. You know ... something like envy.

Don't misunderstand. We have good reason to carry around a positive self-image. After all, Jesus thinks we're to die for! But before we get over-impressed with ourselves, let's remember the reason he died. And those sins of yours that put Jesus on the cross are "just as bad" as mine. And mine are just as bad as my neighbor's. 

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Truth is...The ground at the foot of the cross is perfectly level.